Cheetah Conservation Fund

What to Expect

CCF Namibia is the headquarters of the Cheetah Conservation Fund. CCF Namibia is located on Eland's Joy, a farm about 30 miles (44km) east of the town Otjiwarongo, and about 3.5 hours drive from Namibia's capital, Windhoek. Eland's Joy has been developed over a number of years into a sophisticated Research & Education Centre, housing three large buildings: a cheetah museum, a research and veterinary clinic which is also the office, and an education hall. Staff housing, volunteer rondavels and student dorms are nearby, with showers/bathrooms located within walking distance. Also nearby is a communal kitchen and dining hall, and a TV/common room. Some staff and volunteers remain in Boskop, one of CCF's farms about 5 miles (8km) from the main center.

CCF Namibia is a collection of working farms as well as housing rescued, orphaned, and on occasion, wild cheetahs. Our farms have sheep, goats and cattle. Annually, we bale hay, fix fences, cut down overgrown bush, feed and care for animals. We breed and actively maintain Anatolian Shepherd guardian dogs. As of the beginning of 2006, we care for 38 resident cheetahs who cannot be re-released due to injury or orphanage. We conduct research, education and training programs. And on a daily basis, we allow day-visitors to visit our museum observe our cheetahs and learn about our programs. In short, it's a very busy place, with many people and animals. 

Internship Skills CCF Needs

Student interns conduct similar type of work as other volunteers. You are required to be tremendously flexible, adaptable and patient. We expect student interns to be mature and culturally sensitive. As with all volunteers, students are required to adhere to CCF protocol. 

Students will stay at segregated student dorms, sharing with other international and Namibian students. This allows for integration of cultures and building of relationships between students for a truly international experience.

Working conditions can be extremely hot or extremely cold. You may work long hours, seven days a week. You may work much of the day indoors or outdoors. You will work with many people from different cultures and of different age groups. You will need to be able to work on your own and expect to multi-task. You will be asked to do administrative work such as filing, database entry, photocopying, organizing events, writing articles, running errands, do the weekly food shopping, cook dinner, etc. But you will also get the chance to help with cheetah feeding, raise puppies, assist in clinical workups, collect and dissect cheetah faeces, observe cheetah behavior, conduct field work and be involved in outreach and education programs. Longer-term volunteers may be assigned a specific project to complete during their stay. 

We welcome students with all kinds of backgrounds/courses of study: biology, animal science, conservation biology, ecology, veterinary studies but also more areas such as business studies, computing, education, graphic design, comparative history studies, sociology, psychology and other areas. Basically, anyone with an interest in wildlife conservation and can link it to their field of study can apply.

Masters/Ph.D. Internships

We welcome Masters and Ph.D. students to intern at CCF. These students contribute to general volunteer tasks but also spend time working on their own thesis projects. Masters and Ph.D. students can conduct research relevant to CCF's programs, and feasibly conducted at CCF. Masters/Ph.D. students typically spend 1-3 months at CCF to conduct research, returning to their home universities for write up of the research.

Masters/Ph.D. students can apply to CCF on the same terms and via the same process as other interns. In addition, please include a one page description of your thesis/proposal and the type of research you intend to conduct at CCF. To assess feasibility, please include a paragraph on methodology.

Requirements

Interns are expected to volunteer for longer-term periods. We typically require interns to spend 2-3 months at CCF, although some students have interned for shorter periods, such as one month. The longer your stay, the better for CCF and the more you will learn. You must let us know of any specific requirements for the internship set by your university. We will attempt to match your internship program requirements, if possible.

To qualify for student internship,

• You must be a current, full-time and continuing university student (or equivalent tertiary education).
• You must have completed at least one year of study, but preferably longer.
• You must be at least 18 years old.

Some universities have a pre-existing internship program with CCF. Click here to see if you should apply through an existing university program.

There are a limited number of places for interns, and an application deadline applies (see below). CCF will evaluate all applications after the deadline and allocate the internships to the candidates it considers most suited.

Mandatory Donation (Internships)

Our volunteer program is fee-based: because we are a not-for-profit organization relying entirely on donations, all volunteers and student interns and zookeepers are required to make a mandatory donation to CCF to cover the cost of room, board, training and supervision of volunteers. This fee also contributes to the day-to-day costs of running CCF Namibia. It is because of generous donations that we are able to continue to operate our education, outreach and research programs.

We offer a special fee for internships at CCF. For information about fees, please click here. The fee does not include transportation from Windhoek airport to CCF for which you should budget an additional US$175 (one-way). The fee also excludes the costs of your flights, spending money and personal expenses.

Please ensure that you will be able to meet the required donation before you apply for the CCF internship. Many of our interns have been able to fund their trips to CCF by applying for grants, or raising funds among family and friends, or local community. Please note that all payments made to CCF are non-refundable.

Internship Application Deadlines

All internship applications will be considered after the submission deadline. You should hear back from CCF within about one month of the application deadline. CCF will select the most appropriate candidates, to be allocated a few select spots to intern at CCF. We may suggest other times of the year for you to intern if we are impressed by your application but unable to accommodate you during our peak times. The deadlines are:

READY TO APPLY?

Click here for Application forms and important reading materials.